Sunday morning talking heads

AllahpunditPosted at 8:01 am on October 15, 2017

Plenty of possible topics today for the Sunday shows between Trump dropping ObamaCare’s cost-sharing subsidies, the Puerto Rico recovery effort, the California wildfires, the ongoing NFL protest angst, and of course l’affaire Weinstein. But the focus will be on POTUS decertifying the Iran nuclear deal and how Congress might respond. The White House is running a full-court press this morning by deputizing its three chief foreign-policy officials, McMaster, Tillerson, and Haley, to make the case for decertification. The goal is to present a united administration front, but that’ll be tricky: The chief proponent of decertification within the cabinet was Haley, according to Politico, while the chief opponent was T-Rex. She won, he lost. And yeah, apparently that’s awkward behind the scenes:

Haley’s role was described by a half-dozen administration officials who took part in the Iran policy review. While many of the president’s cabinet members, aides, and advisers work to restrain his impulses, when it came to Iran deal Haley did the opposite—channeling what many Democrats and even some Republicans consider the president’s destructive instincts into policy…

At times, that put her at odds with other cabinet members, especially Tillerson, who vocally opposed her trip to Vienna in August – a matter that became another flashpoint in the ongoing feud between the two.

One White House official described the escalating tensions between Tillerson and Haley as reaching “World War III” proportions.

Given Trump’s unhappiness with Tillerson and Haley’s shrewd positioning of herself as his key ally on this matter, she’ll almost certainly be Secretary of State six months from now. Or six weeks from now. Or possibly six days from now. Haley will be the star guest on “This Week” and “Meet the Press” while T-Rex takes the lead on “Face the Nation” and “State of the Union,” with McMaster covering “Fox News Sunday.” Odds that Haley and Tillerson will contradict each other in describing the administration’s position towards Iran: Close to 100 percent.

Elsewhere, Susan Collins will be on “This Week” and “State of the Union” to discuss her plans to vote no on whatever the next key GOP legislation happens to be. And John Kasich will appear on “Meet the Press” to grumble and grouse about the demise of O-Care’s subsidies and the state of the GOP, as he spends 95 percent of his time doing nowadays. The full line-up is at the AP.